Apparatus for treating cottonseed



y 1939. H. o. SHIELDS APPARATUS FOR TREATING COTTONSEED Hard/n O.SA/e/os Filed April 14, 1937 INVENTOR BY I ATTORNEY Patented July 25,1939 APPARATUS FOR. TREATING COTTONSEED Hardin 0-. Shields, Abilene,Tex., assignor to The Texas Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation ofDelaware Application April 14, 1937, Serial No. 136,766 2 Claims. (01.19-66) This invention relates to an apparatus for treating cotton seedafter the seed has been separated from the long fibers of cotton in theusual ginning operation for the purpose of eliminating or at leastminimizing the breaking and subsequent loss of the short fibers whichnormally fly as lint dust during the subsequent cleaning operations. Theinvention will be more clearly under.- stood if a brief reference ismade to the usual method ofhandling and treating cotton.

After cotton is picked it is ordinarily removed to a gin where most ofthe long fibers are removed 'or separated from the seeds by means of ginsaws which pull the fibers off the seeds. The seeds thus stripped of thelong fibers and having left on them only relatively short fibers knownas lint,

are removed from the gin to an oil mill for further treatment. Here theyare stored in a seed house where they may remain anywhere from threemonths to two years. During the period of storage the short cottonfibers left onthe seeds generally become very brittle and are thereforeeasily broken, so that in the subsequent handling, as in the cleaningoperation, these short fibers may 2e ltiroken olf and lost in what isknown as lint When the seeds are to be used they are removed from theseed house to a cleaning room, generally by means of a continuouslymoving conveyor which extends the entire length of the seed house andinto the cleaning room. When the cleaning operation has been completedthe seeds are removed to a linter room where they are subjected to theaction of what are known as first and second cut linters. The llnters,which are generally similar to gin stands, the only difference being inthe number of saws and the pitch of the saw teeth, act upon the seeds toremove the remaining short length cotton fibers. The fibrous lint fromthe first cut linters is removed from the linter saws by a system ofbrushes, the lint being rolled 01f in a soft roll and baled in the samemanner as cotton. After going through the first cut linters the seedsare carried through the second cut linters and the remaining lint whichis removed from the seeds is blown to a press by means of air through asystem of fiues.

The present invention has for one of its objects to condition the fibersremaining on cotton seed after the ginning operation. Experience hasshown that the conditioning agent can be applied to best advantage whileit is being moved from the seed house to the cleaning room. Theconditioning of the fibers renders them less brittle and less likely .tobreak during the cleaning operation, and therefore makes it possible toproduce a better grade of lint or, in other words, a lint composed oflong and more workable fibers. It is another object of the invention toso condition, the fibers remaining on the cotton seed that there will beless fly in the mill and therefore more healthy conditions for theoperators to work in. With the reduction of fiy it will, of course, bepossible to produce from a given number of tons of seed a greater amountof lint. The conditioning of the fibers is accomplished according to thepresent invention by applying to them a conditioning agent in the natureof an oil in a finely divided state which will render the fiberspliable,

make them easier to cut, keep the linter saws lutrough.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged partial view of the spray manifold in position onthe trough, and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

In the drawing there is illustrated a horizontally disposed conveyortrough In of the type ordinarily used for the transfer of cotton seedfrom a seed house to the cleaning room of an oil mill and the trough isshown equipped with screw or spiral type conveyor l2 which maintains acontinuous movement of seed through theJength of the trough. As shown,notches H are provided in a section of the conveyor on each flight orturn of the screw for the purpose of rolling the seed upside down asmany times as possible as itmoves through this section of the trough.

As mentioned above, it has been found that any fiber conditioning agentto be applied can best be applied while the-seed is being moved from theseed house to the cleaning room, and it has been found that the mostuniform application of the conditioning agent can be made to the seed asit is turned over and over in the conveyor ing agent upon the seed asthe latter is moved and agitated by the notched portion of the conveyor.

The spray manifolds may be of any desired type but! embodied in. thepresent invention are of the type shown and described in thepending'application of Hill et 111.. Serial No. 80,114, filed May 16,1936. The specific form of spray manifold employed forms no part of thepresent invention, and any suitable device capable oi directinga finelyatomized sprayof the conditioning agent 'upon the moving seed may beused. However, it i may be briefly stated that in the manifoldillustrated herein the conditioning agent, which may through suitableopenings provided for the purbe an oil, is introduced by suitable means(not 'shown) to an oil manifold l8 iromwhich it is drawn and atomized bythe action of air under Pressure as such air passes from an air manifold20 to and through the several spray nomles 22.

Preferably a spray manifold is installed on the outside and near the topof each side of the con-l veyor trough with the nozzles 22 extendingpose in the side walls of the trough. The manifolds are preferably sopositioned with respect to the cut flight section oi the conveyor I!that the atomized conditioning agent will be applied to the seed as itis being tumbled about by the action of the conveyor. By the time theseed has Passed through the length of this portion of the conveyor theshort fibers remaining on the seed have'been quite completely coveredwith a fine film oi the conditioning agent and are in better conditionfor the subsequent treatments to which they are ordinarily subjected.

It has been definifiely determined that cotton seed treated as hereindescribed yields a better grade of lint, the fibers being more pliablethan when not so treated; and coming oil the seed in longer-lengths. Theadvantages of the spraying process are particularly noticeable whenfrozen or boley seeds are being worked. Further advantages oi theprocess maybe summarized by saying that the application of theconditioning agent reduces, it it does not actually eliminate, lint fiyin the cleaning and linter rooms and thereby improves working conditionsin the mill; it eliminates static electricity: it'prolongs the life ofthe seed cleaning and conveying equipment, as well as the linter saws,and materially increases the amount of first cut lint as it all goes tothe bale instead of being swept up and thrown in the motes.

Obviously, many modifications and variations may be'made in theinvention as herein set forth without departing from the spirit andscope thereof, 'and therefore only, such limitations should be imposedas are indicated in the appended claims. I

I claim: Y

1. Apparatus for conditioning cotton seed and the fibers thereoncomprising a conveyor trough having openings in the opposite side wallsthereof, a cut-flight screw conveyor for agitating and moving the seedthrough the length of the.

trough, and spray nozzles projecting through each of said openings andadapted to spraya conditioning agent upon the seed as it is agitated andmoved through the trough 2. Apparatus for conditioning cotton seed andthe fibers thereon comprising a conveyor trough,

a screw conveyor for moving the seed through HARDIN O. SHIELDS.

